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AUSTIN, Texas (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)--data.world today announced that it has acquired Capsenta to enable businesses to securely access, view, and work with on-premises databases in the cloud. Capsenta's patented knowledge graph virtualization and modeling technologies create online, business-friendly views of complex data. Teams can now access a single, aligned view of cloud and on-premises data so more of the organization can understand and immediately use it to power better decisions...Read more

TalentGuard Raises $4M to Help Companies Keep Employees Around

The real secret to retaining employees long-term rests in something far less flashy: career development. It’s something every company claims to have, but it rarely gets the attention or resources it deserves.

Linda Ginac launched TalentGuard in 2010 to fix that by providing a platform that helps automate and personalize career plans....Read more

If you ask most business owners or operators what their biggest challenge is, it’s likely employee retention will rank pretty highly on their list. Now, an Austin-based talent management SaaS (software-as-a-subscription) startup focused on helping companies and HR managers not only retain employees, but better engage with and coach them, has raised $4 million to grow its business....Read more

TalentGuard, an award-winning leader in career pathing and talent management software and solutions, announced today it has raised $4M in a Series B round of financing led by LiveOak Venture Partners of Austin, Texas. The capital in this round will be used for funding strategic growth initiatives...Read more

There’s so many players in the real estate tech game, it’s hard to keep up. (We’ve tried in numerous pieces such as this one). Now an Austin upstart called Homeward has entered the crowded scene in an ambitious attempt to take on bigger established players with its offering, and it’s just raised $4 million in equity funding and $21 million in debt funding to help it in its mission...Read more

AUSTIN, Texas, July 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OJO Labs, which empowers consumers to make better decisions through its conversational AI (artificial intelligence) platform, "OJO," announced today that two top industry leaders who have led at the highest levels in real estate, financial services, consumer products, and enterprise technology joined their executive team. Real estate industry leader, Chris Heller, former CEO of Keller Williams, the largest residential real estate brokerage in the world, and most recently CEO of mellohome, joined as OJO's Chief Real Estate Officer. Consumer brand trailblazer, Karen Starns, who most recently led brand and customer experience at Amazon for Echo, Alexa, FireTV, Kindle, and the portfolio of Amazon smart home devices, joined as OJO's Chief Marketing Officer....Read more

Telestax brings on new CFO as it completes major pivot in business model

June 14, 2019

As Telestax Inc. tries to reconfigure its business model and regain its footing after cutting some jobs, it's brought on a new chief financial officer.

Patrick Bonnaure has been hired as CFO, according to a June 6 announcement. It brings the Austin startup a veteran software executive with extensive experience in both Silicon Valley and Austin.

Telestax is a communications-platform-as-a-service company — it has built a program that telecommunications companies can use to build new voice, video and text communications tools...Read more

This VC fund is betting $105 million on Texas tech startups as more talent leaves Silicon Valley for the Lone Star State

May 19, 2019

Silicon Valley has long been the heart of the tech industry. But if you ask Krishna Srinivasan or Venu Shamapant, there are plenty of tech business opportunities in the heart of Texas.

Srinivasan and Shamapant are two of the founders of LiveOak Venture Partners, an Austin, Texas, based investment firm that focuses on startups in the Lone Star State. Last month, the firm finished raising $105 million for its second fund, which it plans to invest in nascent Texas tech companies...Read more

Austin’s Imandra raises $5 million to boost AI product

April 18, 2019

Austin-based artificial intelligence firm Imandra Inc. said Thursday that it has raised $5 million to support the hiring of additional AI, engineering and product workers in Austin, London and Edinburgh, Scotland.

U.K.-based AlbionVC and IQ Capital and Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners led the investment round....Read more

Meet Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner at LiveOak Venture Partners

April 17, 2019

Venture capital used to be a cottage industry, with very few investing in tomorrow's products and services. Oh, how times have changed!

While there are more startups than ever, there's also more money chasing them. In this series, we look at the new (or relatively new) VCs in the early stages: seed and Series A....Read more

The Lone Star State has more capital, as LiveOak closes its newest fund with $105 million

April 9, 2019

Texas may have suffered a heartbreaking defeat during last night’s NCAA men’s championship basketball game, but the state does have something to celebrate today. Local outfit LiveOak Venture Partners, a venture firm focused exclusively on Texas-based startups, has closed a new fund with $105 million in capital commitments....Read more

LiveOak Venture Partners Raises $105M Fund II to Back Texas Startups

LiveOak Venture Partners, an Austin-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups across Texas, today announced the successful close of Fund II, a $105 million oversubscribed fund.

The LiveOak team has held a steady, growing presence in the Texas market since its inception in 2013 having invested close to $100 million in startups across the state. Co-Founders Krishna Srinivasan, Venu Shamapant and Ben Scott met at Austin Ventures in 2000 and invested over an additional $150 million in Texas startups...Read more

OJO Labs Raises an Additional $45 Million in Venture Capital

March 19, 2019

OJO Labs, an artificial intelligence startup, has raised $45 million in additional funding. The Austin-based company plans to use the funds to accelerate its development and market expansion. It plans to hire more employees in the areas of engineering, data science, product and design.

AmplifAI combines artificial intelligence with customer data to improve employee satisfaction. The new capital from Naya Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners, and Capital Factory will get the startup closer to real-time assistance...Read more

Health-tech software company Digital Pharmacist acquired for $125M

March 11, 2019

Digital Pharmacist Inc., an Austin-based software company, has been acquired for $125 million by K1 Investment Management LLC in Los Angeles.

The private equity and venture capital firm, a subsidiary of Mdk Limited Partners Ltd. in South Korea, bought out Austin-based venture capital firm LiveOak Venture Partners LP. LiveOak led a $6.5 million series B round in Digital Pharmacist that closed in 2017...Read more

Austin startup collects head-turning $83M from investors

January 24, 2019

Less than five months after moving its headquarters to Austin, legal-technology startup CS Disco Inc. has secured a massive $83 million investment led by Toronto-based venture capital firm Georgian Partners.

Bessemer Venture Partners, LiveOak Venture Partners, The Stephens Group and venture-debt provider Comerica all invested in the funding round, announced Jan. 24. All were prior investors...Read more

VC investment in Austin has never been so robust. What does it mean?

January 24, 2019

In nine years, Heather Brunner had grown her company into one of Austin’s most recognized tech startups, and now, it was ready for the next level.

It was 2017, and WP Engine, a managed hosting platform for websites and applications built on WordPress, had received multiple inquiries from investment firms throughout the country. After a six-month process of weeding out candidates, Brunner was ready to announce a new corporate partner... Read more

Taking Stock Of Austin’s M&A Year

November 26, 2018

Austin has been a regular topic here at Crunchbase News, especially its venture inputs. Turning our sights to M&A outputs is, therefore, all the more important.

Rollick Lands $8.3 Million in Venture Capital Funding

October 11, 2018

Rollick announced Thursday that is has closed on $8.3 million in venture capital funding. The Austin-based company, which has created an online platform for dealers and retailers to sell powersports, RV, marine and industrial equipment, has raised $14 million to date. Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partnersled the Series A round...Read more

News Corp. is buying Opcity for $210M

August 29, 2018

News Corp. subsidiary and realtor.com operator, Move Inc., today announced the acquisition of Opcity, a real estate lead generation technology platform that matches vetted buyers and sellers with real estate agents in real time, for $210 million...Read more

Austin’s Eventador.io lands $3.8 million for expansion

June 11, 2018

The startup plans to expand sales and marketing, and invest in engineering, operations and research and development. The Austin-based company, which launched in 2016, received the seed funding from LiveOak Venture Partners with participation by Deep Space Ventures, RSH Ventures, Capital Factory and Keshif Ventures...Read more

LiveOak Venture Partners Expands Team

May 21, 2018

LiveOak Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Austin, Texas, is pleased to announce the addition of Mike Marcantonio as Principal and Mason Rathe as Senior Associate. Mike and Mason are the first investment professionals being added to the team outside of the three founding partners and will focus on both executing new investments and supporting the firm’s growing portfolio...Read more

OJO Labs Raises $20.5 Million in VC Funding and Plans to Double in Size

The company, founded in 2015, raised the Series B round from new investors Realogy, the Royal Bank of Canada, Northwest Mutual Fund Ventures and ServiceMaster. It also included existing investors LiveOak Venture Partners and Silverton Partners, both based in Austin...Read more

Austin VC firm, Houston incubator partner up

May 10, 2018

Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners, which has invested roughly a quarter billion dollars in Texas companies, is starting a mentoring partnership with Houston incubator Station Houston.

The partnership is expected to be announced May 10 and will increase LiveOak's presence at the incubator, which is considered one of the most prominent in Houston...Read more

Infocyte has tapped former SonicWall General Manager Curtis Hutcheson to double the company's headcount and size of its partner community over the next year.

The San Antonio-based threat hunting startup appointed Hutcheson as CEO in conjunction with the company's close of a $5.2 million Series B funding round,...Read more

DISCO Raises $20M Growth Financing

January 30, 2018

CS Disco Inc., the legal technology company that makes the market-leading cloud ediscovery solution DISCO, today announced a $20M equity financing. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners and The Stephens Group. All three were existing DISCO investors. This brings the total investment in DISCO to more than $50M...Read more

Palliative Care-Focused Austin Startup Iris Plans Raises $5.1M

September 27, 2017

Iris Plans, a telemedicine company that connects patients to palliative care, announced Wednesday that it has raised $5.1 million...Read More

LiveOak & Telestax Discuss Early Stage Technology Investing

September 6, 2017

In 2010, LiveOak Venture Partners saw a vast opportunity in the Austin and Texas market for early stage technology entrepreneurs. “But there was not as much capital available as many of the local entrepreneurs would attest to”...Read More

Austin VC funding bounces back, jumps 182 percent in 2nd quarter

July 20, 2017

After a slow start to the year, venture capital activity in Austin bounced back in the second quarter, with internet companies leading the charge. A total of $330 million was raised by 43 companies during the quarter...Read More

Austin telecommunications startup brings in $4.7 million in VC funding

July 10, 2017

Austin telecommunications startup founded in 2011, announced Monday they had closed a $4.7 million series A round of funding. Austin's LiveOak Venture Partners led the capital infusion...Read More

Digital Pharmacist Closes Series B

June 6, 2017

“The company has grown over five-fold since our initial investment a little over 18 months ago”...Read More

Opcity’s momentum surges on with $27M Series A

May 10, 2017

Ben Rubenstein first launched Yodle at the ripe age of 21 years old. By 32, he sold the marketing automation company for a whopping $342 million...Read More

Austin startup Opcity raises a whopping $27 million

May 10, 2017

An Austin startup that describes itself as the eHarmony of real estate has raised a whopping $27 million in its first round...Read More

RxWiki is now Digital Pharmacist!

February 1, 2017

For RxWiki Inc., an Austin-based software firm developing tools to connect pharmacists with their customers, the prescription for growth was absorbing a New Jersey company with a healthy client list. The merger with Newark-based TeleManager...Read More

Malware hunting tech startup in SA raises $3.4M — gets new CEO

January 10, 2017

Infocyte Inc., a malware hunting technology startup in San Antonio, just got a booster shot of capital to grow deeper roots...Read More

Funding Drop Worries Entrepreneurs

February 26, 2017

"If you have a good company in Austin, you can raise money"...Read More

Attendance doubles at Texas Venture Summit

While venture capital investing has slowed somewhat in 2016, interest in Texas startups remains strong, based on an event held Thursday in Austin.

In its second year, the Texas Venture Summit drew twice as many attendees than its inaugural year...Read More

RXWiki Helps Indie Pharmacies Compete with The Big Boxes

For most people the concept of the “corner drugstore,” with or without a soda fountain, is a quaint anachronism befitting the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but not modern society.

In fact, though, there are more than 22,000 small, independently owned...Read More

The Top Startup Mecca in America is Far From Silicon Valley

August 11, 2016

Big drivers are low taxes and a cost of living that is low relative to major metro areas such as New York, Boston, Chicago and Silicon Valley...Read More

Disco Raises $18.6M Series C

August 2, 2016

Houston-based tech startup that builds software for the legal industry, has raised $18.56 million...Read More

data.world Comes Out of Stealth Mode

July 11, 2016

With an initial investment of 120 Swiss Francs ($122), the rest came easy...Read More